Saluting national records: Bulletin #3, December 2018

Par Caroline Truchon

Photo par Danny Kim

When it came to breaking national records in short track, last December's World cup #3 saw the smaller countries having a lot of success. Eleven records were broken, for a total of 93 this season before the start of the European championships that are going on right now. New national records were beaten after Almaty in other competitions.

On 1500m, Singapore's Trevor Tan broke Lucas Ng's old record twice over the weekend in Kazakhstan by 0.147 to set it at 2:23.517. Thailand's Triphop Thongngam broke a 2013 record set by Teerit Vongkovit placing it at 2:22.936. The old record was 2:23.758. Finally, the local crowd saw one of their own, Olga Tikhonova, lower the national mark at 2:21.260 which previously belonged to Long A Kim at 2:22.265.

In the 500m, Oleh Handei of Ukraine lowered his own mark twice during the competition to establish a 41.236, compared to 41.563 from last year in Montreal. Belarusian Hanna Izafatava set a new national record at 44.894. The old record was 44.993, owned by Vera Trybul. Singapore's Trevor Tan broke another of Lucas Ng's record bringing the one on 500m down to 43.094. Thailand's Triphop Thongngam also reduced his own mark in the 500m by almost a second (!), from 44.035 to 43.174.

In the 1000m, only Poland's Natalia Maliszewska lowered the national mark to set it at 1:28.866. The old record belonged to Magdalena Warakomska at 1:30.263. Natalia now owns the national records on 500m and 1000m.

In the relay, Belarus lowered their national mark on the women side by almost a second, from 4:24.946 to 4:24.074, thanks to the efforts of Hanna Izafatava, Mariya Izafatava, Katsiaryna Chystaya and Volha Talayeve.

Finally, two other records were beaten after Almaty. The 1000m women's national record of Bosnia and Herzegovina was beaten by more than 3 seconds at the Alpe Adria Trophy - Serbian Open on December 2nd. Samra Selimbegovic set a new mark at 1:40.020. The old record also belonged to her at 1:43.226. Augustin Géré of Luxembourg lowered his own mark in the 1000m set in Salt Lake City earlier this season, with a time of 1:26.22, compared to 1:26.535.

With a total of 93 national records so far this season, I'm not worried that we're going to pass the 100 mark. With Dordrecht, Montreal and Dresden coming in the second half of the season, we'll definitely see a lot more records fall. To see the full record sheet click HERE.

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